Working together

BOTH Pakistan and Iran have once again denied recurring, and no doubt inspired, allegations in the western media about nuclear cooperation between the two countries. Iranian Foreign Minister Dr Kamal Kharrazi, on a day’s visit to Islamabad at the weekend, categorically declared that there had been no transfer of sensitive nuclear technology from Pakistan for Tehran’s nuclear programme, which he said was entirely indigenous and designed solely for peaceful purposes. Iran has been under constant pressure from the United States on the nuclear issue as well as on account of its uncompromising stand on American expansionism. Since the Afghan and Iraq war episodes, the pressure on Iran has mounted, and it has been included in the Bush administration’s “axis of evil”. Pakistan, because of its nuclear capability, has been dragged into controversies regarding nuclear cooperation with both Iran and North Korea. Perceived links between some Pakistani agencies and shadowy groups have made Pakistan an easy target for media attacks, and although there has recently been a sea change in Islamabad’s policy, the “war on terrorism” continues to spawn all kinds of accusations and suspicions.

The technology transfer issue overshadowed Dr Kharrazi’s advocacy of nuclear-free zones in South Asia and the Middle East. Pakistan has long backed the idea, which is opposed by India. If and when relations between Pakistan and India return to a more rational footing, the regional countries should seriously consider Dr Kharrazi’s suggestion. Building and keeping nuclear weapons is morally wrong and a threat to much of what we all cherish. One or other group of nations has to take the initiative in forcing the US and other major powers to renounce their nuclear weapons, which is the only way towards complete nuclear disarmament.

Iran and Pakistan have been in a lot of things together over the past five decades. There have been good times and bad. During the Shah’s days, we were both happy to serve as cat’s paws for western interests in the region. The revolution in Iran threw the relationship out of kilter for a while, and fresh tensions developed during the Taliban interlude in Afghanistan when we were pitted on opposite sides. If the Taliban regime had come to a logical and political end, rather than having been displaced by a US-led invasion, Pakistan-Iran differences would have melted away quicker. Tehran now wants stricter interdiction of Al Qaeda and Taliban people fleeing into Iran from Balochistan, and the move during Dr Kharrazi’s visit for trilateral Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meetings at both official and ministerial levels deserves to be vigorously pursued to tackle all such issues. Pakistan should also be able to utilize its current high standing with the Bush administration to persuade US policy-makers to modify their Iran policy that may ultimately deflect the government of President Khatami away from its course of moderation. There is so much that Islamabad and Tehran can do for the peace and development of this region. The need for coordination between them in all fields has become more urgent in view of the current international climate.

Textiles and tariffs

THE assurance by Federal Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan on Thursday that there would be no major change in tariff on industrial goods, except automobiles, with the start of the new round of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) should come as a relief to local producers. The commerce minister, who heads to Cancun in mid-September to participate in the WTO meeting there, has clarified that while developed countries will be required to bring down their industrial tariffs first as the system starts operating in 2005, developing countries, and this includes Pakistan, will be given more time to follow suit.

At the same time, the question that needs to be asked is how prepared the industrial sector is for the new arrangement after this grace period. Take the example of the textile sector. Once trade and tariff barriers are removed, major buying countries are expected to reduce the source of their textile imports to just a few countries. Prior to this, they were forced to import from a variety of countries. But this will now change. For Pakistan to take advantage of this and also to remain a major player in the field, it has to not only understand how these changes will affect its textile exports but will also have to work to address these issues.

Over the past few years, the emphasis in Pakistan’s exports has gradually moved from the export of raw cotton to more value added products, and rightly so. The textile industry has increased its exports by 40 per cent during the last four years, which includes the period when there was a global economic depression following the events of 9/11. Now the short-term target before the country is to achieve total exports worth $13 billion in 2003. A more ambitious target before the textile industry is to export $13 billion worth of products by 2005-06 when the tariff free regime is in place. These are achievable targets but only if the government continues to maintain consistency in its policies and also provides a conducive environment. At the end of the day, the extent of advantage that the industry would get from the implementation of GATT depends on the speed with which the textile sector makes the necessary adjustments for theemerging new playing field.

Barriers to knowledge

IT WAS refreshing to see a photograph in this newspaper the other day of visitors at a New Delhi book fair showing keen interest in a stall exhibiting books from Pakistan. Around 40 Pakistani publishers have made the trip to the Indian capital to take part in the book fair. Unfortunately, a trade fair is about the only place in India where an Indian will be able to find books by Pakistani writers — and the converse is true for Pakistan. Indian newspapers and magazines are a cheap alternative for Pakistani readers and could satisfy the ever-present demand here for literature on Indian and South Asian topics. However, unless one has the right connections or if one does not mind purchasing expensive pirated material, it is next to impossible, at least for an ordinary person, to get hold of Indian publications. The benefits to each other’s reading public from a greater flow of such material are not only that they will be considerably cheaper than publications from Britain or America, but also that both sides will have the opportunity to know more about each other.

Notwithstanding the flurry of people-to-people exchanges, of mostly businessmen and parliamentarians, between the two countries, not every Pakistani who wishes to travel to India can do so. The next best thing would be if books, newspapers and magazines from India could come to Pakistan and vice versa. This would go a long way towards removing some of the mistrust and misconceptions that many ordinary Indians and Pakistanis continue to harbour about one another. That is probably why there are elements on both sides of the border who wish to keep such a tight control over the flow of information. The Internet does provide many possibilities of overcoming such restrictions, but then again not every Indian or Pakistani has access to a computer. Making books, newspapers and periodicals freely available between the two countries should form an essential part of the Indo-Pakistan normalization agenda. Barriers to the flow of knowledge and artificial impediments in the way of cultural and social exchanges are in any case retrogressive and lead to entirely avoidable angularities.